Helga Margarete Barth is currently Director for Human Rights, International Development, Health and Social Affairs, Coordinator for Sustainable Development at the Federal Foreign Office. One of her responsibilities is coordinating the foreign policy dimension of Global Health Issues at the Ministry. From 2015 to 2019 she was Minister (political) and Head of the Political Department at the German Embassy in Washington DC. She previously served as Senior Director for the Middle East, Asia, Latin America and Africa on Chancellor Merkel’s foreign policy team (2010-2015).
Her previouspostings with the Federal Foreign Office include two years as the Ministry’s Research Coordinator on the Policy Planning Staff(2008-2010), a posting as Political Counsellor in Ankara, Turkey (2005-2008), and two years at the Division for Turkish Affairs (2003-2005). She has also served as Deputy Consul General in Guangzhou (Canton), China, and as a political desk officer at the German Embassy in Tokyo.
Ms. Barth holds a Master’s Degree in Chinese Studies (Sinology) and German Literature from Tubingen University, Germany and did post graduate work at Cornell University’s Asia Department. She also attended the universities of Erlangen and Bonn as well as Shandong University in Jinan, China.